title: A review of the epidemiological methods used to investigate the health impacts of air pollution around major industrial areas.
abstract: We performed a literature review to investigate how epidemiological studies have been used to assess the health consequences of living in the vicinity of industries. 77 papers on the chronic effects of air pollution around major industrial areas were reviewed. Major health themes were cancers (27 studies), morbidity (25 studies), mortality (7 studies), and birth outcome (7 studies). Only 3 studies investigated mental health. While studies were available from many different countries, a majority of papers came from the United Kingdom, Italy, and Spain. Several studies were motivated by concerns from the population or by previous observations of an overincidence of cases. Geographical ecological designs were largely used for studying cancer and mortality, including statistical designs to quantify a relationship between health indicators and exposure. Morbidity was frequently investigated through cross-sectional surveys on the respiratory health of children. Few multicenter studies were performed. In a majority of papers, exposed areas were defined based on the distance to the industry and were located from <2 km to >20 km from the plants. Improving the exposure assessment would be an asset to future studies. Criteria to include industries in multicenter studies should be defined.
authors.affiliation: French Institute for Public Health Surveillance, 12 Rue du Val d'Osne, 94415 Staint-Maurice, France. m.pascal@invs.sante.fr
authors.forename: Mathilde
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pascal
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pascal
authors.forename: Marie-Laure
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bidondo
authors.forename: Amandine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cochet
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sarter
authors.forename: Morgane
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stempfelet
authors.forename: Vérène
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D009017:Morbidity; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000453:epidemiology; D012306:Risk
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants